Pure Joy!

We went to a little pirate festival in Seabrook a few weeks ago. I love this pic. of McKade in the petting zoo. It is such a look of pure joy. It puts a smile on my face whenever I see it.

While we were there Bodin and Roman got to learn some fencing. They were pretty good.

Glasses

McKinna came home from school ecstatic a couple of weeks ago with a note from the school nurse that she failed her eye exam and her eyes were 20/50. Pretty clueless about what this means I immediately called my mom who told me that was pretty bad and I definitely needed to take her in. I took her in a few days later and the prognosis was worse than I thought it would be. Her eyes were actually 20/100 and 20/150. They explained to me that she REALLY needed glasses ASAP. Okay, with all the kids in tow we worked on picking out a pair. McKade must have tried on every pair in the store and left fingerprints there as well. It was hard to give McKinna the attention she needed to pick out the pair she would be happy with. We finally came to a decision and got a cute little pair. So far she has been wearing them faithfully and I hope this will continue when she returns to school next week.

JRDF walk

We packed up the family and walked downtown Houston for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation Walk. We took our time on the walk and had a great time with the kids. Their favorite thing was rolling down the hills. McKade got rolled over many of times by some big kids, but he did not care. He would just get up and roll again. Bodin decided at one point to protect him so they held onto each other and rolled over each other. Too cute!

The Door

I must say one thing I secretely enjoy is coming up with the punishment that fits the crime. I get a feeling of satisfaction when I can. With that said....

I hear the bus coming and McKade, Journey and I book it outside to welcome the kids home. Bodin comes running up hugging us and telling us all about his day. Then here comes moody McKinna. She is instantly laying into me. Mom, you did not do this and that. Okay, McKinna sorry, but seriously we just came to welcome you home. She settles down and we walk inside. She starts up again. Mom, blah blah blah. (She is just looking for reasons to yell at me.) McKinna you better stop! Continues. Get to your room!

She goes off but the complaining continues. She is kicking her door now yelling in this super whiny voice. "I do not care about this door, I do not care about anything in this house. The only thing I care about is me. I do not need this door." On and on this goes so I calmly open the door and say, "You do not care about this door?"
"Yes I do"
"Really, because I heard you say you don't."
"No, I don't"
"And you don't care about anyone in this family?"
She smugly looks at me like she has succeeded in hurting my feelings.
I do not say anything, but just leave. I come back with my handy dandy screwdriver and start unscrewing from the hinges.
McKinna frantically, "Mom, what are you doing?"
"Well, you do not care about this door so I just thought that I would take it off."
Oh the begging and pleading begins and I must admit it felt great to calmly remove srew by screw and relocate that door to the hallway where it is a constant reminder of one thing that can happen to you in this house if you make bad choices.

13 years.......... Where has the time gone?

It has been 13 years since Shani and I got married, and I couldn't imagine it with anyone else! We have lived many places and have done lots of things trying to live the American Dream. Through the good and the bad we have stuck together, but honestly is has been good 98% of the time! We get along like peas and carrots and she lets me be me which is asking a lot! Shani, I still love you today as I did the day we said "I DO". Here is to another good year in yet another location on our adventure around the globe!

Love ya!!

Finally

I can finally post Journey is officially crawling. No more of the army crawling business, she is up and off! Unfortunately she quickly discovered to make that messes as she goes. Her and her partner in crime are quite great pals now.

Yes, all the clothes and objects all over the floor are done by Journey:).

Bad Day

I feel like everyone always posts the best days on their blog (me included). I read other peoples blogs and feel like a failure, but I have to keep the perspective the the good days are usually the ones being shared so this one is in light of keeping it "real".
McKade has been perfectly potty trained for about a month. He decided for whatever reason, that he did not want to be potty trained anymore. He started peeing his pants constantly. I finally started to spank him, it did not even phase him. I put him in his room, he hated it, but it did not work either. I put him on my lap to talk to him about it only to feel a warm sensation on my lap as I talked to him, back to your room. I have found that he is a child that craves the positive attention given to him, if he does not get cheered on as he runs to the bathroom and applauded afterwards, then he will go for negative attention. So we are back to being his cheer squad and he is doing much better again. That was a frustrating couple of days.

We were driving under a bridge by the ocean here the other day when Bodin says that he wants to go fishing here with all these people. Ben tells him that they will go fishing in our neighborhood because here under the bridge is where the homeless people live. I point out the shopping carts full of their clothes and other belongings and explain that they do not have jobs or homes so they are homeless. Bodin says that they just do not have jobs because it is a Saturday. Okay, no they do not have jobs any day of the week. McKinna ponders this for a while and comes to the conclusion that we are homeless because we do not "own" our home. Alright, I give-up!

I get a call from a family at church that has been trying to sell their house. They let me know they have just lowered the price on their home and McKinna has told them that we will have to be moving (remember we are homeless). I embarassingly let them know that we will not be moving nor have the credit to buy a home right now. Thanks McKinna!

Water Fun!

I was trying to get some stuff done around the house and needed McKade to stay away for a minute. To accomplish this I put some bubbles in the sink to let him put his hands in and play. Apparently he had bigger and better ideas. I turn around to see this......

And he planned it out because as I got closer I see he thought he better keep his undies dry.

Really your undies, but not your shirt. Silly Boy!

Family Fun Day

We went to a bed and breakfast in Cat Springs for a family fun day. There was a lot to do. First we went and saw the kangaroo.

Then we saw this pig AKA Taylor:)

Ben and Bodin spent some time fishing while McKinna took their pictures.


Then they wandered around and climbed trees.


They played around in some covered wagons.



They paraded around in bike helmets waiting for their turn to ride the horse.

They finally got their turn. Bodin was a bit leary of this, but did great. McKinna and McKade were all over it!



We also got to ride in some paddle boats. While doing this we saw many turtles in the water. The kids also got to brand a piece of wood with Ben's work logo on it. It was a fun day and a place I would definitely go to again!

Crazzzy Hairday

Halloween 2010

Journey the bumblebee. Her first Halloween!!

McKade the caterpillar.

McKinna was a witch. She should have been standing for her picture. She looked really cute!

Bodin was actually a red power ranger for Halloween, but when I asked him to put on his Halloween costume for a picture he put this on. I did not even realize it. Little Stinker!
We had a great Halloween. On Friday we went to our church Trunk or Treat. Then, on Sunday, we did the neighborhood. McKade really got into knocking on the doors and getting his candy. He did not like the scary people and would tell us they were scary. If a scary person opened a door, he would not want to trick or treat anymore and we would have to go with him and coax him back into it. Journey fell asleep as soon as we went trick or treating and slept until we got back home.
Bodin and McKinna were off and had a wonderful time. They would have gone all night if we let them.